Barrasso on FOX News Sunday: Discusses Senate Health Care Bill

"I believe we'll get it passed. That's the only way we can fundamentally change away from Obamacare, get rid of all the hated mandates and the taxes and put Medicaid on a sustainable course long-term, get down the costs of care and insurance."

WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) appeared on "Fox News Sunday" this morning to talk about the draft Senate health care bill.

Below are key excerpts of the interview:

On How It Will Stabilize Markets, Cut Taxes:

"The crisis is getting worse, Obamacare is collapsing every day. I was at a hospital yesterday in Casper, Wyoming talking to doctors, nurses and patients. There was an urgency to act. We are down to one company providing insurance in Wyoming, the prices have skyrocketed. That's why we have to do something. We need to do what the people are asking for, which is stabilize the insurance markets. Senator Durbin doesn't want to talk about the fact that in Illinois, they are way down the number of people even selling insurance and prices are way up. That we want to eliminate the mandates that you have to buy a government-approved product, get rid of all the taxes. But focus on the fact that this is about health care for people, who many people in Wyoming lost it under Obamacare. They had insurance they like and they could afford. The Democrats said not good enough for us--it was good enough for them, and they could afford it.

On Giving States Flexibility on Medicaid:

"Obamacare raised taxes on every American who uses health care in America. They put it on over the counter medicines, prescription medicines, medical devices which are so often used for the disabled population the most.

"We want to eliminate all of them. They put taxes on people that buy health insurance. So anybody using the health insurance, the cost of that has actually gone up by the taxes under Obamacare. With regard to Medicaid, I am a doctor who took care of every Medicaid patient that there was that came to me in Casper, Wyoming. As a state legislator, I always believed we could do a much better job if we could just have control of that money and actually help more people with the same amount of money without all the Washington mandates. Local control, which is what I saw in the Wyoming State Senate. The amount of dollars going to Medicaid, from today on out continues to go up year after year. So if Senator Durbin refers to a cut, only in Washington is giving more each year, something that you can conceive as a cut if it doesn't go up as fast as he would like it to go up. It goes up every year.

On Slowing the Growth of Medicaid Spending:

"Medicaid was set up for poor women, for children and for people with disability. Obamacare used Medicaid as a dumping ground for able bodied, working aged individuals. There are ways to modify Medicaid. Mike Pence, Vice President, when he was Governor of Indiana, did a wonderful job of that with the local control that we are asking for all across the country. The growth will continue for Medicaid. We need to do it in a responsible way. But to just talk about these things as being cuts, it's just not the case. And when they put all of these additional people onto Medicaid, it made it that much harder for the poor women, children, and people with disabilities to get the treatment they need because now more and more doctors, actually a third of doctors are saying I just can't see any new Medicaid patients. So Obamacare actually made it worse for patients who were originally designed to be helped by Medicaid.

On How Obamacare Rates Are Skyrocketing:

"Senator Durbin has no interest in working with Republicans on this. But he should have seen the headline in the Chicago newspaper that said: Obamacare rate shock. Another Obamacare rate shock. That's what's happened all across the country. People are hurt by these incredible increases. This is a program that is collapsing.

"Obamacare has sabotaged the insurance market in the country to the point now where now in half the counties around the country people are down to either zero, one, or two choices. You have over 40 counties where no one was selling Obamacare insurance.

On Working With Senators to Support the Bill:

"I work with all of them. Everyone is committed to a fundamental change away from Obamacare and central government control and into local control and patients making decisions. We are going to continue to work with them through the process. Every one of them has very good points that they are making. I want to work with all of them.

On if the Senate Has Enough Votes Needed to Pass the Bill:

"I believe we do. I believe we'll get it passed. That's the only way we can fundamentally change away from Obamacare, get rid of all the hated mandates and the taxes and put Medicaid on a sustainable course long-term, get down the costs of care and insurance."